When the October Gramophone arrived, it carried a piece on American String Quartets, several of which I’d scarcely heard of, never mind heard. CDs of some of them were rare and expensive, brief excerpts - inconclusive. What to do? Recalling both Gramophone and Audirvana had links to Qobuz, I had a look: a month’s free streaming in CD-quality with Qobuz HiFi via Audirvana…. but I don’t do streaming, do I?
Tempora et Technologia Mutantur…. I signed up.
There followed a bleakly hilarious hour or so when nothing worked - the slightly cluttered interface on the Qobuz Player showed music playing in 16/44.1, but all I got was - silence; or it indicated 320kbps - but gave me silence still; then withdrawing and trying a re-boot, the Mac dropped the connection to the Dac; then when I reconnected with unseemly haste produced our old friend - the high-pitched whine (so-elegant USB audio will not be rushed).
So, time for supper - exit quit and withdraw.
Everything always works better at 2 AM, most especially my own brain (human error is, generously, 50% of Computer Audio mishaps) and within 5 minutes of a re-boot I was listening to the losslessly-streamed Concord Quartet playing the String Quartet No. 4 by George Rochberg, and in Qobuz HiFi via Audirvana too. Sound Quality seemed absolutely what I would expect from a good CD player - tape hiss, studio squeaks, smooth neutral and transparent instrumental reproduction. I could feel my relationship to recorded music evolving in real time…. why buy music anymore?
But then, quickly seduced by the losslessly-streamed beauties of JEG’s LSO Mendelssohn 1 & 4, I rushed off to download the hires version with scarcely a thought. Sure enough it offered a superior experience - in fact an exceptional orchestral and musical experience (I named it my Record of the Year), to the extent that, after listening to Dusapin’s Aufgang via Qobuz HiFi as well, I began to feel suspicious. On the lossless stream, good as it was, there was something missing from my usual experience of CD playback or locally stored downloads.
Time to make some comparisons!
As I had them in CD, 24-bit and available on Qobuz Discover, I listened to a selection from Brautigam’s Mozart Piano Concertos on BIS. The FLAC stream was - clear, precise and well-resolved with no obvious tonal anomalies, but - rather cool and shallow spatially. Playing the CD I heard a sweeter, more transparent treble, more tonal warmth in the midbass, and a noticeable gain in stereo depth: overall more refined, performer-individualised and involving. I began to smile at it again. The 24/96 files were very similar to the CD, just marginal gains in ambience, warmth and fluidity. A great result for the original silver disc!
Next, I had to convert some of my WAV files back to FLAC as the closest to the Qobuz stream. Yes, just as I expected: closer to the stream than the CD, but still a perceptible gain in warmth, timbral subtlety and depth in the locally stored file - a “nicer listen”, more pleasurably involving. But there wasn’t a lot in it; over the next few days I found I could still enjoy the streaming in isolation, only occasionally feeling the sonic losses affecting my response. (Rather as if, my CD transports being serviced, I had borrowed a slightly less able but still enjoyable one to tide me over…)
Using Qobuz in earnest, I began exploring Gergiev’s Prokofiev Symphony recordings, which various reviews - and the Barbican acoustic - had discouraged me from buying. It was revelatory: I found new admiration for the subtlety of his direction and the beauty and power of the LSO’s response, having, on the basis of broadcasts and very few purchases, unfairly categorised him as often overdriven and hard-nosed, a bit hit and miss. But by the finale of the 6th, I felt that slight lack in quality again: a touch flat, rhythmically and dynamically. Downloading the FLAC file for comparison, again I heard a gain in life and colour, which did discourage me a little, about the CD-quality stream itself. But then, if I hadn’t heard several of these symphonies on Qobuz HiFi, I would never have done what I did next - bought the CD boxset itself (it was half the price of the current, notes-free download, so…)
I should add at this point - yes, the Audirvana+ version of Qobuz HiFi is sonically superior to the Qobuz website player - a better-resolved, warmer, more engaging reproduction. Clearly preferable.
***
Since then I’ve only warmed to it the more; it’s become too useful to give up, especially when the Gramophone arrives, when there’s bound to be mention or listing or review of some work or composer I don’t know and want to hear, without committing to purchase; or of course listening in higher quality than R3 currently offers to the BaL choice. And so on.
Of course this facility has been available via services like Spotify and Apple Music for a some time but that’s only if you’re OK with lossy codecs, which I never truly was, and I’m increasingly not, or not for a substantial session. YMMV. Usual mix of genetic inheritance, experience, tolerance etc…. Easier to move up in quality than down.
Frustrations, drawbacks?
Where available, you can access the booklet in the Qobuz Player, with a bit of fiddling about and enlargement; but in Audirvana+ this isn’t offered, or not that I could see. Instead you often get biographical notes on composer or artists, often surprisingly detailed, drawn from lastfm.com and so on. I often find this more useful (especially for someone like Rochberg of whom I knew little) and given the better sound, the simpler, more attractive user-interface, I stayed with Audirvana/Qobuz, much preferring its elegant efficiency to the Qobuz Player itself.
As for the stream stability - in Audirvana this was flawless with never a glitch, crackle or interruption. The searches and selections, playback, favourites and other functions were goodlooking, fast and smooth. In the Qobuz Player itself (on their website), the search results are a little harder to view in the cramped window, and you have to switch about to see album thumbnails. I noticed the rather more-than-occasional brief noise, or dropout, especially when switching view, probably due to busier webtraffic there.
The link to the Gramophone is very encouraging of course. December included a review of the Roy Harris Violin Concerto (c/w John Adams) from Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Litton and the BBCSO. I’d passed this over when I saw it out on Qobuz, not wanting another recording of the Adams. After reading the enthusiastic Gramophone review of the Harris today, I’ve put it in my favourites on Qobuz HiFi, top of the playlist. It now seems entirely natural to hear something this way, irrespective of a potential purchase. Still, the sound quality is good enough to seduce: I bought the Emperor Quartet’s Martinu CD just because the BIS sound was so wonderful on the Qobuz lossless stream.
But that whole business of the flavour or quality of attention, of listening - my worry that it would seem too take-or-leave casual to listen via streaming - that just fell away. Just as I once said, oh I don’t want a computer near the hifi, then when I actually did it, it was too much fun not to pursue. CD quality was my streaming tipping point. All it took.
Tempora et technologia Mutantur, technology changes us as we use it; not always for the worse. But at its simplest, Qobuz HiFi is simply another luxurious, good-sounding, useful and easy-to-use addition to your classical listening armoury.
Classical enthusiast, looking out for new reviews and releases, love exploring new music, or delving back into the legacy of - Paray, Karajan, Haitink, Dorati etc.?
Audiophile, SQ fussy? Via Audirvana+ at least, here’s a great-sounding service with a huge choice of labels (Naxos seems the only major omission), AND a great deal - £20 a month, no minimum contract.
(Note: the Qobuz Sublime option doesn’t quite offer “hires streaming” as such; it allows you to stream 24-bit recordings but only after you purchase them, albeit for a generous discount. And you have to subscribe for a year in advance. As ever in this transient, digital musical world, you have to think out what YOU, personally, want as a listener and purchaser of recorded music. And remember that the technology changes you as you use it, which may actually be enjoyable.)
Tempora et Technologia Mutantur…. I signed up.
There followed a bleakly hilarious hour or so when nothing worked - the slightly cluttered interface on the Qobuz Player showed music playing in 16/44.1, but all I got was - silence; or it indicated 320kbps - but gave me silence still; then withdrawing and trying a re-boot, the Mac dropped the connection to the Dac; then when I reconnected with unseemly haste produced our old friend - the high-pitched whine (so-elegant USB audio will not be rushed).
So, time for supper - exit quit and withdraw.
Everything always works better at 2 AM, most especially my own brain (human error is, generously, 50% of Computer Audio mishaps) and within 5 minutes of a re-boot I was listening to the losslessly-streamed Concord Quartet playing the String Quartet No. 4 by George Rochberg, and in Qobuz HiFi via Audirvana too. Sound Quality seemed absolutely what I would expect from a good CD player - tape hiss, studio squeaks, smooth neutral and transparent instrumental reproduction. I could feel my relationship to recorded music evolving in real time…. why buy music anymore?
But then, quickly seduced by the losslessly-streamed beauties of JEG’s LSO Mendelssohn 1 & 4, I rushed off to download the hires version with scarcely a thought. Sure enough it offered a superior experience - in fact an exceptional orchestral and musical experience (I named it my Record of the Year), to the extent that, after listening to Dusapin’s Aufgang via Qobuz HiFi as well, I began to feel suspicious. On the lossless stream, good as it was, there was something missing from my usual experience of CD playback or locally stored downloads.
Time to make some comparisons!
As I had them in CD, 24-bit and available on Qobuz Discover, I listened to a selection from Brautigam’s Mozart Piano Concertos on BIS. The FLAC stream was - clear, precise and well-resolved with no obvious tonal anomalies, but - rather cool and shallow spatially. Playing the CD I heard a sweeter, more transparent treble, more tonal warmth in the midbass, and a noticeable gain in stereo depth: overall more refined, performer-individualised and involving. I began to smile at it again. The 24/96 files were very similar to the CD, just marginal gains in ambience, warmth and fluidity. A great result for the original silver disc!
Next, I had to convert some of my WAV files back to FLAC as the closest to the Qobuz stream. Yes, just as I expected: closer to the stream than the CD, but still a perceptible gain in warmth, timbral subtlety and depth in the locally stored file - a “nicer listen”, more pleasurably involving. But there wasn’t a lot in it; over the next few days I found I could still enjoy the streaming in isolation, only occasionally feeling the sonic losses affecting my response. (Rather as if, my CD transports being serviced, I had borrowed a slightly less able but still enjoyable one to tide me over…)
Using Qobuz in earnest, I began exploring Gergiev’s Prokofiev Symphony recordings, which various reviews - and the Barbican acoustic - had discouraged me from buying. It was revelatory: I found new admiration for the subtlety of his direction and the beauty and power of the LSO’s response, having, on the basis of broadcasts and very few purchases, unfairly categorised him as often overdriven and hard-nosed, a bit hit and miss. But by the finale of the 6th, I felt that slight lack in quality again: a touch flat, rhythmically and dynamically. Downloading the FLAC file for comparison, again I heard a gain in life and colour, which did discourage me a little, about the CD-quality stream itself. But then, if I hadn’t heard several of these symphonies on Qobuz HiFi, I would never have done what I did next - bought the CD boxset itself (it was half the price of the current, notes-free download, so…)
I should add at this point - yes, the Audirvana+ version of Qobuz HiFi is sonically superior to the Qobuz website player - a better-resolved, warmer, more engaging reproduction. Clearly preferable.
***
Since then I’ve only warmed to it the more; it’s become too useful to give up, especially when the Gramophone arrives, when there’s bound to be mention or listing or review of some work or composer I don’t know and want to hear, without committing to purchase; or of course listening in higher quality than R3 currently offers to the BaL choice. And so on.
Of course this facility has been available via services like Spotify and Apple Music for a some time but that’s only if you’re OK with lossy codecs, which I never truly was, and I’m increasingly not, or not for a substantial session. YMMV. Usual mix of genetic inheritance, experience, tolerance etc…. Easier to move up in quality than down.
Frustrations, drawbacks?
Where available, you can access the booklet in the Qobuz Player, with a bit of fiddling about and enlargement; but in Audirvana+ this isn’t offered, or not that I could see. Instead you often get biographical notes on composer or artists, often surprisingly detailed, drawn from lastfm.com and so on. I often find this more useful (especially for someone like Rochberg of whom I knew little) and given the better sound, the simpler, more attractive user-interface, I stayed with Audirvana/Qobuz, much preferring its elegant efficiency to the Qobuz Player itself.
As for the stream stability - in Audirvana this was flawless with never a glitch, crackle or interruption. The searches and selections, playback, favourites and other functions were goodlooking, fast and smooth. In the Qobuz Player itself (on their website), the search results are a little harder to view in the cramped window, and you have to switch about to see album thumbnails. I noticed the rather more-than-occasional brief noise, or dropout, especially when switching view, probably due to busier webtraffic there.
The link to the Gramophone is very encouraging of course. December included a review of the Roy Harris Violin Concerto (c/w John Adams) from Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Litton and the BBCSO. I’d passed this over when I saw it out on Qobuz, not wanting another recording of the Adams. After reading the enthusiastic Gramophone review of the Harris today, I’ve put it in my favourites on Qobuz HiFi, top of the playlist. It now seems entirely natural to hear something this way, irrespective of a potential purchase. Still, the sound quality is good enough to seduce: I bought the Emperor Quartet’s Martinu CD just because the BIS sound was so wonderful on the Qobuz lossless stream.
But that whole business of the flavour or quality of attention, of listening - my worry that it would seem too take-or-leave casual to listen via streaming - that just fell away. Just as I once said, oh I don’t want a computer near the hifi, then when I actually did it, it was too much fun not to pursue. CD quality was my streaming tipping point. All it took.
Tempora et technologia Mutantur, technology changes us as we use it; not always for the worse. But at its simplest, Qobuz HiFi is simply another luxurious, good-sounding, useful and easy-to-use addition to your classical listening armoury.
Classical enthusiast, looking out for new reviews and releases, love exploring new music, or delving back into the legacy of - Paray, Karajan, Haitink, Dorati etc.?
Audiophile, SQ fussy? Via Audirvana+ at least, here’s a great-sounding service with a huge choice of labels (Naxos seems the only major omission), AND a great deal - £20 a month, no minimum contract.
(Note: the Qobuz Sublime option doesn’t quite offer “hires streaming” as such; it allows you to stream 24-bit recordings but only after you purchase them, albeit for a generous discount. And you have to subscribe for a year in advance. As ever in this transient, digital musical world, you have to think out what YOU, personally, want as a listener and purchaser of recorded music. And remember that the technology changes you as you use it, which may actually be enjoyable.)
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